Strap-hinge



UNITED STATES;

PATENT OFFICE.

LOUISHH. SHOLD-ER, 0F CLEVELAND, onto.

STRAP- HINGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 530,729, dated December11,1894. A lication filed January 29, 1894. serial No.498-422- (Nomodel.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS H. SHOLDEB, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga andState of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Strap-Hinges; and Idohereficiency, all as hereinafter fully described and v particularlypointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of oneform'of hinge constructed after the manner of my invention. Fig. 2 is aplain elevation of another form of the invention, and Fig. 3 is a plainelevation of still another form. Fig. 4 shows a modification with theends at the pintle. Four several forms of the invention are thus shown,but, obviously, theinvention may take on any one of a numberof other anddifferent forms and still retain the same principle of construction, theidea in any and all cases'being to produce a hinge having a minimum ofmetal and weight and a maximum amount of strength.

Hitherto in the construction of strap hinges having a relatively widehinge connection, it has been customary to cut the hinge sections orparts from sheets of metal, and the full width of the hinge has beenused, that is to say, if, for example, a hinge using a pintle threeinches long were made, each part or section would be about three incheswide at its base, although, of course, only a half of that Width, orthereabout, of each part would engage the pintle. The real strength ofthe hinge is the strength of its weakest place, and so it occurred thatalthough straps three inches wide were used, they had only the strengthof about one-third that width. There was, therefore, much waste of metaland unnecessary weight in those hinges as well as waste in scrap in thesheets from which they were produced.

My invention has among its objects the overcoming of these objections,and by its novel-tyof construction not only producing as strong a-hingeas formerly with materially less weight and quantity-of metal, andthereby working economy in this way, but also saving very materially inthe freight charges, especially in the long hauls to remote westernpoints. Indeed,'the savings in freight in a car load of hinges fromCleveland 'to San Francisco alone would amount toa very fair profit onthe goods, while the hinge itself would have superior strength and valueas compared with'the corresponding hinge made the old way.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that each part or sectionof the hinge, A and B, is made out of a single piece orstrip of inetalcut to the required length.

It is my practice to take suitable strap iron having the desired width,and after cutting it to length according to the style of hinge to bemade, bending the same to the form preferred. Thus in Fig. 1, I show.two hinge sections exactly alike" and which, after being bent back upontheir middle semi-circular part 2 are turned over flatwise upon the bodypart of the section. Before doing this, however, I insert links 3-"whichconnect thehinge at its two bearing points and serve as pintles for thehinge. This gives two parallel bearingsfor the hinge, but usually Iprefer to lock the link in one'of the hinge sections so that the bearingwill be only on one side instead of two ofthe links. By this construction I utilize every particle of metal in the hinge and have nosurplus or waste to carry about to the real'detriment of the hinge.Assuming that-the depth of the hinge from points at and 5- is'threeinches, I have a hinge that is considerably stronger and more durablethan the old fashioned flat hinge which is solid between its edges, andwith one-third-to one-half less weight and all of the hinge is inaction. The bend or semicircle 2 serves as a connection and bracebetween the upper and the lower bearings on links 3-, and to mostadvantageously place the screws to secure the hinge firmly in place.Thus, the space between the bearings 4 and 5- is vacant, but the hingehas atleast all the strength of the old fashioned hinge of equal widthwith this space filled, and manifestly is lighter.

In Fig. 2 the same principle of construction obtains, but here the hingesection 0 has two semi-circular bends -6 and three bearings, 7--, -8 and9, instead of two, as above. This hinge belongs to what is known as theT form. The middle bearing is made by bending the metal back upon itselfmidway of the hinge, and the end bearings by bending the ends back uponthe stock and putting the fastening screw through both. A common pintle-10 unites the sections A and G. A peculiar and very strong bracing ofsection (3 is effected by this construction.

In Fig. 3 the two hinge sections have their bearings 11- and 12 turnedquarter way round and punched through, and a common pintle here alsoserves the purpose. This form resembles Fig. 1 except that the bearingsare quarter turned and a pintle instead of links is used to connect thesections.

It will be noticed by the foregoing construetions that in each and allcases the metal of both sections of the hinge is bent to form twoAnother advantage of this construction is I its durability. I use thesame number of screws as formerly in hinges of the different sizes orstyles, but it will be noticed that the screws pass down through adouble thickness of metal and engage the overlapping and bent parts ofthe hinge so that to break the hinge connections the bearing must betorn out or the screws literally pulled out. In the old or common styleof hinge in which the eye was simply bent around the pintle and had nomeans of fastening the bent part, it was not unusual for the eye to besprung loose and drawn out and the hinge thus impaired or ruined. Thishinge furthermore reduces the friction to the minimum and makes a heavydoor swing more easily than other styles of hinges.

In Fig. 4 there is still another modification which reverses the ideabrought out in Figs. 1 and 3, in that we here have the ends of the strapat the pintle. This formation is somewhat peculiar but altogetherpractical and makes a very strong hinge. Thus in each section we findthe strap bent edgewise to form the semi-circular part -13, and the endthereof, 14--, given a quarter turn and perforated for the pintle. Thisbend -14- is diagonal to the line of curvature and at right angles tothe side of the strap. The reverse bend --15, forming the middle part ofthe upper and lower hearings in each section corresponds to the fullbearings in Fig. 1. Then midway of the length of each section the strapis bent back upon itself as seen at 16-, and the other end thereof iscurved inward edgewise at 17- and then bent up at right angles like-14.--. It will be noticed that both ends of each strap come back to thesame bearing; that is the ends of one section to the upper bearing andthe ends of the other section to the lower bearing. I also show in thisview a short pintle for each bearing, but a long one may be used.

By bending the strap at -16, substantially as shown, I avoid having thefree ends shown in Fig. 1, and this is advantageous commercially and inhandling the hinge before it is placed in position on a door.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a straphinge, a leaf formed from a single piece of strap metal of predeterminedlength and width having a double bend, one of said bends being edgewiseof the strap and the other flatwise thereof and the edgewise bentportion being thus turned back upon the face of the flat portion,whereby pintle bearings are formed atthe junction of said bends, and theedgewise bent portion forms a brace between said bearings, substantiallyas set forth.

2. A hinge leaf constructed substantially as described, comprising aplurality of arms for attachment to one of the hinged parts, asemi-circular brace connecting the inner ends of two of said arms andpintle bearing cars at the extremities of said brace and at right anglesthereto and to said arms, substantially as set forth.

3. A hinge section consisting of strap metal having a plurality ofbearings and a portion thereof bent edgewise and forming a brace betweensaid bearings and the portion formingsaid bearings bent at right anglesto said edgewise portion, substantially as set forth.

Witness my hand to the foregoing specification.

LOUIS H. SHOLDER.

Witnesses:

H. T. FISHER, GEORGIA SOHAEFFER.

IIO

